On September 24, the new “AI4Steel Lab” laboratory was officially opened on the premises of the Technical University in Košice, which will serve the needs of academics as well as steelmakers from U. S. Steel Košice. Using artificial intelligence tools, the joint teams will address current industry challenges in order to improve the quality and protection of the environment while maintaining the economic efficiency and competitiveness of steel production.

“Cooperation is key to the success of innovation. We are pleased that the premises of our “TECHNICOM” University Science Park will be used to seek out and test new, smart solutions. So far, we have worked with U. S. Steel mainly through the Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling, and now we are moving closer to modern technologies thanks to colleagues from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics,” said TUKE Rector Stanislav Kmeť at the opening of the laboratory. “It's definitely different studying methods of artificial intelligence at a theoretical level, and then seeing their direct implementation in production,” the Rector added.

“Digitization leads to significant changes in production management. Although U. S. Steel Košice has used it since the early 1990s, today the main challenge is advanced analytics, i.e. data evaluation for production optimization. Thanks to analytics and extensive data on each ton of steel produced, we can increase the quality and efficiency of production, reduce emissions and improve sustainability,” said U. S. Steel Košice President Jim Bruno, adding: “U. S. Steel wants to run the best steel plant in Europe and be a leader in the use of smart technology for industry. At the same time, artificial intelligence tools and correctly interpreted data save millions of euros.”